This invention relates to television signal routing and processing apparatus and, more particularly, to supplemental signal splitting apparatus for use with television apparatus having a cable signal input including scrambled signal channels; a cable select box including a cable tuner for selecting a channel, descrambling circuitry for unscrambling scrambled signals, and first output circuitry for outputting a first signal on a television channel frequency; and a programmable video cassette recorder (VCR) including a VCR tuner for selecting a channel, an antenna input to the VCR tuner, an audio/video input, programmable selection means for selectively receiving an input signal from the VCR tuner or the audio/video input, and second output circuitry for outputting a second signal on a television channel frequency. The apparatus comprising, means for receiving the cable signal input and for outputting a first and a second copy of television signals contained in the cable signal input; first means for connecting the first copy of television signals contained in the cable signal input to the cable tuner; and, second means for connecting audio and video signals contained in the second copy of television signals contained in the cable signal input to the audio/video input of the VCR.
In its most basic configuration, a video cassette recorder (VCR) 10 is connected to the antenna input 12 of a television set 14. The VCR 10 has a signal input 16 which can be connected to a wire or co-axial cable connected to an antenna or other signal source. Most contemporary VCRs include a "cable-ready" tuner 18 so that a video cable service input can be connected directly to the input 16 and the cable select box can be eliminated from the installation. In such case, channel selections for viewing and/or recording are made with the tuner 18 of the VCR 10. The VCR 10 outputs an RF signal at 20 which is connected to the antenna input 12 of the television set 14. Typically, the signal at 20 is on a channel such as 3 or 4 and the tuner of the television set 14 is left on that channel.
When the user purchases a "pay" channel as part of the cable service, the simplified installation of FIG. 1 is no longer possible and a cable select box 22 must be employed. The cable select box 22 includes both a tuner 24 and a "descrambler" 26. The tuner 24 is basically the same as the tuner 18 of the VCR 10. It is the descrambler 26 that is required in order to be able to receive the pay channels. To this end, an installation such as shown in FIG. 2 can be employed. The cable signal is input to the cable select box 22 which, like the VCR 10, outputs an RF signal at 28 on a standard channel such as 3 or 4. In use, therefore, both the VCR 10 and the television set 14 have their tuners set to the fixed transmitting channel and all channel selections by the user are done through the cable select box 22.
The configuration of FIG. 2 has a serious limitation--it severely limits the use of the VCR for recording broadcast television, i.e. "time-shifting" recording. The tuner 18 of the VCR 10 must remain on the channel out of the cable select box 22; so, all that can be programmed into the VCR 10 for recording purposes is a start time and a stop time. The channel to be recorded must be pre-set in the tuner 24 of the cable select box 22. Thus, all the multi-channel and multi-recording time programming features included in a typical VCR are simply wasted as the VCR 10 no longer has any control over the channel selection.
Attempts to get around the foregoing problem have been made in the prior art such as that depicted in FIG. 3. As can be seen, a signal splitter 30 and an A/B switch 32 have been added so that the user can manually select whether the VCR 10 or the cable select box 22 is in control of the channel selection. As those skilled in the art will readily recognize and appreciate, the installation configuration of FIG. 3 restores programming flexibility to the VCR 10 for non-pay channel use; but, once the cable select box 22 has been switched on as the active input in order to get pay signals de-scrambled, the FIG. 3 system is essentially the FIG. 2 system once again. More complex splitting and switching systems are also to be found in the prior art; but, they only add to the complexity of use and do not solve the foregoing problem.
Wherefore, it is the object of this invention to provide a way in which to combine a pay channel input descrambled by a cable select box with VCR control of programming functions for improved flexibility of use over the above-described prior art approaches.
Other objects and benefits of the invention will become apparent from the detailed description which follows hereinafter when taken in conjunction with the drawing figures which accompany it.